Ambient Eats
I n H o m e D i n i n g
Vision
Helping families to engage young children in a vital part of our days, family meals, while drawing their attention to ambient environments through subtle noises.
User Research
“I’m too lazy to get up to get a knife so I will use a fork instead”
“This food is not the healthiest for me, but I’m going to eat it anyway.
“You can enhance any meal with ingredients lying around your home.”
“The ingredients in this crouton packet are terrifying but they taste good.”
Jane Caraway
42 years old
Mother of two children
Works at a consulting firm
Prepares meals on the weekend for the week
When food is not prepared, she buys dinner on her way home after work
Eats alone while watching tv
Kate Langford
25 year old
PhD student
Has one roommate
Usually at school from 9 AM – 9 PM on weekdays
Eats out mostly or has frozen meals at home. Usually, home on the weekends. Eats breakfast at home in her room. She does not have a dining room table
Young professionals and college students tend to have cramp living areas, with little to no room for dining activities. In many countries, meals are a huge part of the daily routine and culture. Is there a way to help make dining more pleasurable for this group of people?
Precedent Exploration
Innovative dining products today, are either to improve the cooking process or aid in healthy consumption choices, but there are very few products which focus on experience or overall enjoyment.
Most items in this area are very literal and not many ambient devices exist in this space. This creates a large opportunity area which can and should be capitalized on.
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People tend to eat alone while multitasking, they are never solely mindful of what they are eating. They are watching netflix, watching or reading the news, checking on their agenda for the day, etc. Kitchen and dining spaces are combined and cramped. The current in home dining market focuses on health more than the experience.
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The material of the product should only enhance the experience that the ambient device is bringing to the table.
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An ambient device that helps to enhance the dining experience within single living situations, or small dining architecture.
Prototype
Using Phantom Particle. Our team is able to take the feature we imagined in real life. Our vision is to help families to engage young children in a vital part of our days, family meals while drawing their attention to ambient environments through subtle noises.
The Vision – Final Ecosystem
Front-End
Fork
Pay attention to the noises being reflected by the movements of the eater.
Noises: Crickets, koyla bird, & parrot (randomly chosen)
Cup
Look out for “lightning bolts” and thunder clap noises when the cup is drank from.
Plate
Once a user is finished eating and the fork has been immobile for one minute the plate will sparkle blue and green.
Back-End
Fork
- -The fork has an attached accelerometer
- -Every time a bite is taken, a specific sound assigned to each person is played
- -Rainforest:
- -Person 1 – Crickets
- -Person 2 – Koyla Bird
- -Person 3 – Parrot
Cup
- -The cup has a liquid sensor in it
- -When the level of liquid in the cup changes, the same sound is played for every person:
- -Rainforest
- -Everyone: Thunder Clap
- -The neopixel under the plate lights up simulating lightning
Plate
- -The meal is over when everyone’s forks have been immobile for more than one minute
- -Once all the forks are laid to rest, the neopixel and LED strip light up to signal that dinner is over
- -Rainforest
- -Sparkles green and blue
Progress Video
Team:
Christian Baca, Grae Prickett, Rebecca Radparvar, Ran Tao, Wendy Wei, Qiao Yin.
My Role:
User research, design, and prototype for the Cup part.